Baniyas

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بانياس / Bāniyās
Baniyas
Baniyas (Syria)
Baniyas
Baniyas
Coordinates 35 ° 11 ′  N , 35 ° 56 ′  E Coordinates: 35 ° 11 ′  N , 35 ° 56 ′  E
Basic data
Country Syria

Governorate

Tartus
ISO 3166-2 SY-TA
height 25 m
Residents 43,000 (2009)

Baniyas ( Arabic بانياس, DMG Bāniyās ; ancient: balanaia ; partly also listed as Banias ) is a port city in the governorate of Tartus in Syria with around 43,000 inhabitants (as of 2009).

location

Baniyas is located on the Mediterranean Sea at the foot of a foothill of the Jebel Ansariye between Latakia (35 km in the north) and Tartus (25 km in the south). To Hamah in the east it is approx. 70 km. Six kilometers south of Baniyas is the castle ruin Margat on a 280 meter high, wrinkled volcanic hill .

economy

For a long time the place was the end point of two oil pipelines from Kirkuk (Iraq), which were shut down by Syria in 1982 because of the Iran-Iraq war. The reopening of the Tapline ( t rans- A Rabian p ipeline; Kirkuk-Baniyas pipeline) in November 2000. Around the city there are large oil refineries.

port

The 25-berth seaport is designed for medium-sized boats. It is designed for ships with a maximum length of 25 m and a maximum draft of 3 m.

history

Protests against Assad in Baniyas

Antiquity

On the site of today's Baniyas, the Phoenicians founded an ancient settlement that was known to the Greeks under the name of Balemia . Perhaps in the Hellenistic era , according to Stephanos of Byzantium, it took the name Leukas, borrowed from the Greek island of the same name . It belonged to the area of Arados and was therefore counted by Stephanos of Byzantium to Phoinike . In Roman times it was called Balanea, the southernmost port city in the province of Syria . The city's first known Christian bishop was present at the Council of Nicaea in 325 AD . Under Theodosios II , Balanea became the province of Syria Secunda , and under Justinian the new province of Theodorias .

Middle Ages and Modern Times

In the 7th century the city fell into the hands of the Arabs . From 1109 it was owned by the Principality of Antioch , a Christian crusader state , and was now called Valania . From 1186 to 1285 it belonged to the Order of St. John . In 1285 it came to the Mamluken Sultan Qalawun , 1516 to the Ottoman Empire and 1920 to Syria.

Massacre in Baniyas

During the civil war in Syria in 2013 there was a massacre in Baniyas with at least 200 dead, many of whom were of Sunni faith. Accordingly, the massacre is seen as an attempt to cleanse the region for religious denominations.

Individual evidence

  1. ↑ gazetteer.de
  2. ↑ www.freidok.uni-freiburg.de
  3. ↑ www.portbooker.com
  4. ↑ Strabo 16, p. 753
  5. ↑ Syria: Sunnis flee the coastal town of Banias. In: zeit.de. May 4, 2013, accessed December 9, 2014 .

literature